Hanna's A Hit or Miss?

Hanna's Restaurant and Bar

22195 El Paseo, Suite 110

Rancho Santa Margartia, CA 92688

Looking for someplace different, and close by, Katie and I headed to Hanna's in Rancho Santa Margarita. I had lived in Rancho for five years and had never made it to Hanna's. The place is hip and dark, with a lot of action in the bar on this Thursday night. This is the type of place you would expect to see an OC housewife, or a stray hockey player dining in. Let's see if the cool vibe jumps to the food.

So after looking at the prices of the steaks, ($29 and up), we decided on the Prime Filet Mignon Skewers, as an appetizer. This was a little more within our budget at $13. The skewers are served over onion straws, with two sauces, a chimichurri sauce and a fantastic garlic bleu cheese sauce. Both sauces went really well with the meat. The meat was cooked to my liking, but Katie thought it was too rare, but she does like things well done. After trying this, I am sure that their steaks would be good, but a little over-priced.

Above is Katie's Lobster Macaroni and Cheese. She really liked this dish, but thought it was really rich. I tried a few bites of it and was not as impressed as her. The lobster was rubbery, and the dish had too many bread crumbs for my taste. I do agree with her that this plate was very rich, but I would have been disappointed if I had ordered this as my meal.

Next up was my entree, Beef Short Ribs. This was served with garlic mashed potatoes and broccoli tempura. I really liked the way this was presented. The mashed potatoes were good and the broccoli was a pleasant surprise. The meat though, was not too great. I felt that it was dry, and lacking of flavor. This is the first time I have ever ordered short ribs out before, so maybe this is the way they always are, so I will hesitate before ordering them again. 

For the grand finale we went with the Chocolate Infused Bread Pudding. This was a very good finish to an average meal. Once again the dish was presented well , and this time the taste did not disappoint. The bread pudding was nice and spongy, and had a great taste.

Hanna's is an okay place. I get the feeling that we just did not get the right entrees off of the menu. The service was probably the best out of anyplace we have gone to on this blog so far. They really made us feel welcome. That might get us to try Hanna's again the future. But for now, out of 5 OC housewives, (five being best to zero being worst), Hanna's gets 2.5 OC housewives.

For more information on Hanna's click here: http://www.hannasprimesteak.com/